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The 2019 government shutdown is just the latest reason why poor people can't bank on the safety net

  • Written by Jamila Michener, Assistant Professor of Government, Cornell University
Unreliable policies can make poverty more stressful.Rawpixel/Shutterstock.com

I conduct a lot of in-depth interviews with people like a woman I’ll call Angie as part of my work as a political scientist who studies poverty and public policy. When I asked the low-income mother of two, who works multiple jobs but still struggles to care for her...

Read more: The 2019 government shutdown is just the latest reason why poor people can't bank on the safety net

How one German city developed – and then lost – generations of math geniuses

  • Written by David Gunderman, Ph.D. student in Applied Mathematics, University of Colorado
The auditorium at University of Göttingen today.Daniel Schwen/Wikimedia, CC BY-SA

There are two things that connect the names Gauss, Riemann, Hilbert and Noether. One is their outstanding breadth of contributions to the field of mathematics. The other is that each was a professor at the same university in Göttingen, Germany.

Although...

Read more: How one German city developed – and then lost – generations of math geniuses

Chicago, New York discounted most public input in expanding bike systems

  • Written by Greg Griffin, PhD candidate, University of Texas at Austin
Public bikes are meant to complement a city's existing mass transit network, so the location of docking stations is critical.MusikAnimal/Wikimedia, CC BY-SA

When New York and Chicago decided to expand their public bike share systems a few years back, city officials wanted to go about it democratically. Using community meetings, workshops and...

Read more: Chicago, New York discounted most public input in expanding bike systems

Who are the federal workers affected by the shutdown? 5 questions answered

  • Written by Nevbahar Ertas, Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Administration, University of Alabama at Birmingham

The current government shutdown is now the longest in American history, affecting about 800,000 federal employees out of 1.8 million full-time civil servants, not counting military personnel and postal workers.

Of those, about 380,000 have been furloughed, meaning that they cannot work or get paid. The rest, whose positions are categorized as...

Read more: Who are the federal workers affected by the shutdown? 5 questions answered

Acute flaccid myelitis: What is the polio-like illness paralyzing US children?

  • Written by Jay Desai, Clinical Associate Professor of Neurology, University of Southern California
Illustrative image of virus associated with acute flaccid myelitis.Lightspring/Shutterstock.com

I experienced déjà vu when I took care of a child with acute flaccid myelitis in 2014, one of the first cases of its kind at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles in many years.

I had taken care of polio patients in India in 1990s and...

Read more: Acute flaccid myelitis: What is the polio-like illness paralyzing US children?

If Trump declares a national emergency, could Congress or the courts reverse it?

  • Written by Chris Edelson, Assistant Professor of Government, American University School of Public Affairs

If President Donald Trump declares a national emergency to fund some portion of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border without congressional authorization, what would happen next?

Would the courts step in? What is Congress’ role?

As I explain in my book “Emergency Presidential Power,” presidents generally claim emergency power two...

Read more: If Trump declares a national emergency, could Congress or the courts reverse it?

Science gets shut down right along with the federal government

  • Written by Angela K. Wilson, Professor of Physical, Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Michigan State University
Ongoing wildlife studies are one kind of federally funded research that's sidelined during a shutdown.USFWS, CC BY

When the U.S. government shuts down, much of the science that it supports is not spared. And there is no magic light switch that can be flipped to reverse the impact.

For instance, large-scale instruments like NASA’s Stratoscopher...

Read more: Science gets shut down right along with the federal government

How Viktor Orban degraded Hungary's weak democracy

  • Written by John Shattuck, Professor of Practice in Diplomacy, Tufts University

The roots of democracy in Hungary are shallow.

That’s been especially clear in the last nine years, as Prime Minister Viktor Orban has created a repressive and increasingly authoritarian state, operating under a pretense of democracy.

In recent weeks the political situation has become volatile. By early 2019 the Hungarian government was the...

Read more: How Viktor Orban degraded Hungary's weak democracy

3 ways to be smart on social media

  • Written by A. Trevor Sutton, Ph.D. Student in Doctrinal Theology, Concordia Seminary
A smarter use of social media can improve your sense of well-being.Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com

This past year, many people deleted their social media accounts following revelations about privacy violations on social media platforms and other concerns related to hate speech.

As people adopt their resolutions for the year, it is likely that many...

Read more: 3 ways to be smart on social media

The quiet threat inside 'internet of things' devices

  • Written by Charles T. Harry, Associate Research Professor of Public Policy; Director of Operations, Maryland Global Initiative in Cybersecurity; Senior Research Associate, Center for International and Security Studies, University of Maryland
They're small and well-connected, but how safe are 'internet of things' devices?BeeBright/Shutterstock.com

As Americans increasingly buy and install smart devices in their homes, all those cheap interconnected devices create new security problems for individuals and society as a whole. The problem is compounded by businesses radically expanding the...

Read more: The quiet threat inside 'internet of things' devices

More Articles ...

  1. Calling it a 'war on science' has consequences
  2. Federal workers begin to feel pain of shutdown as 800,000 lose their paychecks
  3. Virginia's uranium mining battle flips traditional views of federal and state power
  4. Mapping the world's 'blue carbon' hot spots in coastal mangrove forests
  5. The politics of fear: How fear goes tribal, allowing us to be manipulated
  6. More solutions needed for campus hunger
  7. The forgotten legacy of gay photographer George Platt Lynes
  8. How a government shutdown affects the economy
  9. Hearing hate speech primes your brain for hateful actions
  10. Renewed space rivalry between nations ignores a tradition of cooperation
  11. Remembering American saint Elizabeth Seton's legacy and how it continues to inspire work with immigrants
  12. With the right guiding principles, carbon taxes can work
  13. With foreign bureaus slashed, freelancers are filling the void – at their own risk
  14. Who's more compassionate, Republicans or Democrats?
  15. The downside of doing good with a market mindset
  16. Tumor-free flounder are just 1 dividend from the cleanup of Boston Harbor
  17. The science of the deal: A negotiation expert explains how Trump and the Democrats could both end the shutdown with a win
  18. Trump calls border a 'crisis of the soul': 3 scholars react to his Oval Office address
  19. Countering Russian disinformation the Baltic nations' way
  20. Stopping partisan gerrymandering is more complicated than you think
  21. Families are choosing between their health and staying together
  22. Rotating black holes may serve as gentle portals for hyperspace travel
  23. Why Trump will likely lose the government shutdown
  24. How to increase your chances of sticking with your resolutions
  25. Is there a crisis at the US-Mexico border? 6 essential reads
  26. Venezuelans reject Maduro presidency — but most would oppose foreign military operation to oust him
  27. Why elite colleges should use a lottery to admit students
  28. Let them eat more fat? Researcher argues that a balance of types of fat is the key
  29. What Catholics can learn from protests of the past
  30. Venezuelans want President Maduro out, but most would oppose foreign military intervention to remove him
  31. When it comes to brain tumors, a patient's sex matters
  32. What's behind our appetite for self-destruction?
  33. How childbearing varies across US women in 3 charts
  34. Los Manuscritos del mar Muerto son un vínculo inestimable con el pasado de la Biblia
  35. Fact check: How many people are enslaved in the world today?
  36. White right? How demographics is changing US politics
  37. 3D scans of bat skulls help natural history museums open up dark corners of their collections
  38. 3D-printed guns may be more dangerous to their users than targets
  39. How the medical profession can help heal divisions as well as diseases
  40. The bizarre phenomenon of vacation surprise videos
  41. No, Trump is not like Obama on Middle East policy
  42. Would bringing back pork-barrel spending end government shutdowns?
  43. Congress used to pass bipartisan legislation – will it ever again?
  44. Women who ran for Congress avoided women's issues in their campaign ads
  45. Many hate crimes never make it into the FBI's database
  46. Why does it feel good to see someone fail?
  47. Schools fall short when it comes to helping students in grief – here's how they can improve
  48. Amelia Earhart would have a hard time disappearing in 2019
  49. Will China's moon landing launch a new space race?
  50. The euro at 20: An enduring success but a fundamental failure